318 



Descriptions of Malayan Plants. 



5. MELASTOMA STELLULATA. (W, J,) 

 M. octandra, pedunculis axillaribus 1— -5-floris, calycibus 

 setosis, setis erectis spinescentibus apice stellato-multifidis, 

 foliis oblongo-ovatis trinerviis subtus tomentosis. 

 Daduruh Akkar. Malay, 

 West Coast of Sumatra. 



A shrub with long slender tomentose branches. Pubes- 

 cence stellate. Leaves opposite, petiolate, oblong-ovate, 

 elongated to the point and acuminate, rounded or cordate at 

 the base, three or four inches long, three-nerved, entire, 

 smooth above, ferruginously tomentose beneath. Petioles 

 short, ferruginous. Peduncles axillary, three sometimes one- 

 flowered, and more rarely paniculately five-flowered. Pe- 

 dicels long, four-sided,, tomentose, thickened at the joints 

 and below the flowers. Bracts leaf-like, at the divisions of 

 the peduncle, opposite. Calyx oblong, somewhat tubular, 

 tomentose, and furnished besides with long erect spinous 

 bristles, with stellate points ; i, e, whose points are armed 

 with a radiated fascicle of diverging setae ; limb four-parted ; 

 segments oblong, ciliate. Corolla four-petalled, spreading ; 

 petals somewhat acute. Stamina eight, unequal ; four long, 

 with pedicellate anthers and filaments furnished with a fasci- 

 cle of hairs at the apex ; four short, with sessile anthers and 

 bisetous filaments ; all the anthers arcuate, and opening by 

 pores at the top. Ovary oblong, in the bottom of the calyx, 

 and attached to it by eight septa forming an equal number 

 of cells, in which the points of the anthers are lodged before 

 the expansion of the flower, four-celled, polysporous ; ovula 

 attached to central placentae. Style declinate, thickened at 

 the base, as long as the stamina. Berry contained in the per- 

 sistent calyx, to which it becomes adnate, ovate, four-celled, 

 many-seeded. 



Obs. — The peculiarity of the bristles of the calyx having 

 stellate points, at once distinguishes this species from all the 



